Once again, the Red Sox found a way. Their offense was depleted by the absences not only of players on the disabled list but also J.D. Drew, who was out with tightness in his hamstring, and Mike Cameron, who could not play in a day game following a night game. The pitching staff, too, was short-handed, as the team’s only two reliable relievers — Daniel Bard and Jonathan Papelbon — were both unavailable as a result of their work the previous night.

But even with their ranks thinned, the Sox proved capable of completing a three-game sweep over the Angels on a day when they scored all seven of their runs via the longball. In a 3-3 tie (courtesy of solo homers by Adrian Beltre, Bill Hall and Kevin Youkilis), Marco Scutaro delivered a huge decisive blow, launching a grand slam down the left-field line to lead his club to a 7-3 victory. The blast made a winner of Josh Beckett for the first time since his second start of the season on April 10 — so long ago that not a single member of the Sox had suffered a broken bone.

With the victory, the Sox concluded their 10-game roadtrip with a solid 6-4 record. The sweep was the first by the Sox since they took three straight from the Angels’ Southern California neighbors, the Dodgers, from June 18-20 at Fenway.

WHAT WENT RIGHT FOR THE RED SOX

–For the second straight outing since his return from the disabled list, Josh Beckett was extremely sharp. He showed good command of a mid-90s fastball and low-90s cutter to go along with a solid breaking ball and changeup. But for a pair of key defensive lapses, he easily could have escaped without permitting a single earned run.

As it was, he still delivered one of his most impressive outings of the year, logging seven innings and allowing three runs on five hits while striking out five and walking one. Perhaps most importantly, he was strong through the end of his outing, striking out a pair of batters in his final inning. In 12 2/3 innings since returning from the disabled list, Beckett is 1-0 with a 2.84 ERA, four walks and 10 strikeouts.

–Marco Scutaro had one of the best games of his career, going 3-for-4 with the grand slam and a pair of walks. He matched a career high by reaching base five times, something he had done on three previous occasions (twice this year).

–Kevin Youkilis launched a game-tying, solo homer in the top of the seventh inning against Angels reliever Rich Thompson, ending his longest power drought since 2008. Youkilis had not gone deep since July 9, going a span of 58 at-bats without clearing the fences, prior to hitting his 19th homer of the year. He hadn’t homered in 15 straight games, the longest such streak for him since going homerless in 19 straight contests from May 19 to June 11, 2008.

–Adrian Beltre concluded a monster road trip by blasting a solo homer in his first at-bat, giving the Sox a 1-0 lead in the second inning. He nearly went deep again, flying out just short of the wall in left-center in his second plate appearance. Though concern greeted Beltre’s health at the start of the second half due to his hamstring, he showed no ill effects of the injury during the three-city West Coast swing. He hit .357/.400/.667/1.067 with three homers on the road trip.

WHAT WENT WRONG FOR THE RED SOX

–Jeremy Hermida‘s struggles have been pronounced, both at the plate and in the field, since he returned from the disabled list. His timing has been off at the plate, and while he had his best contact since coming off the DL (a long drive to left center that was caught on a fine running catch by center fielder Reggie Willits), he continued to be a punchout machine. He went 0-for-3 with a walk and a pair of punchouts, and is 2-for-17 with 10 strikeouts since his return from a six-week layoff due to his broken ribs.

Defensively, he has also struggled on fly balls. Most notably, he got caught in between on a two-out liner to left field by Angels catcher Bobby Wilson in the bottom of the second inning. Hermida allowed a catchable ball to fall a few feet in front of him for an RBI single. The damage grew when the next batter, Reggie Willits, delivered an RBI single up the middle for another run.

–Through the first seven innings, the Sox went 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position, nearly wasting a number of key opportunities against an Angels staff that was left scrambling by virtue of the late scratch of scheduled starter Joel Pineiro due to an oblique strain that will sideline him for 6-8 weeks.

–David Ortiz struck out four times, matching a career high. It was the second time this year and ninth in his career that he endured a Golden Sombrero.